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Saturday, May 31, 2008

The Best of Both Worlds

Life on the road is a world of freedom with fresh, new sights and new starts every day. Life at a fixed home is a world of the familiar with connections to places and people that get deeper and richer with each passing day. I've always had wanderlust and a passion for freedom. I think as I get older (and my men start to pause?) I have more appreciation for the connections of a place.

I am so grateful that I can have both.

We've been parked in Fort Lauderdale for almost 2 months now, and we've spent time with family and friends. The best kind of friend is one who feels close, like you see them every day, even though it may have been 2 years since you saw them last. We have several of those friends here.

The business world can be another story, but because of my Women's Executive Club (WEC), I have deep-rooted connections there too. I've belonged to this club since 1983, and there are some active members who have belonged even longer. I joined it when my mom and I were starting a local business, a computer training center, here in Fort Lauderdale. The group helped me to network in the local business world, provided comaraderie and support from other business women, and introduced me to connections. I'm sure I owe much of my success with that business to my connections in WEC.

Then, when we sold that business in 1996, I kept my membership because of the friendships I had developed. They helped me realize that life is more than your business. I remember so clearly some heart-to-heart conversations with a few of these women about how much their husbands meant to them. I'm sure that provided part of the inspiration for Jim and I to get married in 1998.

Now, as Jim and I try to develop our business of Geeks on Tour: Computer Education, I am once again tapping into the resources of this group. So, when Vivien of Bluewater Books and Charts suggested I co-host a social with her, I jumped at the chance. Usually a social is either at a member's place of business, or at her home. This one was both! We drove our home to her place of business.

They were quite impressed that our home on wheels even has a mother-in-law suite! She does look at home there doesn't she? We're trying to convince her to join us this summer for a couple weeks going thru Michigan's upper peninsula and a little bit of Canada, but she doesn't know if she can fit it in between her trip to Australia and the next one to North Korea!

And, what perfect timing it was. The social was 2 nights ago, and we're hitting the road today. All the cleaning up is already done!

It's harder to leave this time, but I know as soon as I hear those wheels rolling, I'll be rejuvenated with possibilities of the open road. And, I can calm the anxieties with the knowledge that I can always come home.

Inspiration

"There’s a myth that time is money. In fact, time is more precious than money. It’s a nonrenewable resource. Once you’ve spent it, and if you’ve spent it badly, it’s gone forever."— Neil Fiore: Author, speaker, and trainer on managing business